


You Have My Heartbeat

by Do_wa_diddy



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, But for sokka it's not canon, Disabled Character, Disabled Sokka (Avatar), Gay Zuko (Avatar), Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Toph & zuko are still disabled, no beta we die like men, non canon disabled character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:21:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25235365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Do_wa_diddy/pseuds/Do_wa_diddy
Summary: The moment Sokka saw him he knew Zuko was his soulmate. Sokka also knew he was his enemy and that he had to do something. So he did what any reasonable person would do and stabbed himself.Aka Sokka and Zuko are soulmates but Zuko doesn't know while Sokka can't stop knowing no matter how hard he tries.
Relationships: Aang & Toph Beifong & Iroh & Katara & Sokka & Zuko (Avatar), Iroh & Sokka (Avatar), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 145





	1. Sokka's story

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at posting a fic in three years so please give me some constructive criticism! Also please be sure to give kudos and leave comments if you want to see more of this!

"Oh, I thought I'd be the only one up right now. What's keeping you up?" Sokka startled. He hadn't even realized Katara was awake, let alone that she was out of the tent. Probably out to waterbend, since it's a full moon.  
"I'm... I'm worrying about him again." Sokka said, sighing and looking at the sky. "Scar guy? Sokka, he wants to kill us. I know who he's your soulmate and all but it isn't healthy. He's not good for you! And now he's keeping you up at night?" Katara empathized.  
"Don't you realize that's why it keeps me up at night! Ugh, I'd rather have this conversation with a platypus bear. Or Aang." Sokka exclaimed, falling onto his back. Almost out of instinct, he started tracing the constellations with his finger. It reminded him of a simpler time, back when Dad and Bato were teaching him how to navigate, how to lead once they left. Those lessons really had payed off, since he would bet all of his money and even his boomerang that neither Katara or Aang could use a map. Hell, he knew his sister couldn't tell east from west and Aang once asked him why he was trying to draw on the sky with his sextant.  
But he was pulled out of his thoughts when the stars he had been tracing stopped being in his line of sight. Instead he saw a goofy twelve year old who he'd summoned by name. "What about me?"  
"I guess none of us know how to sleep, huh?" He said, sitting back up to face Aang and his sister. "Except Appa." He gestured to the hairy giant who only snored.  
"Sokka's just... concerned... about his soulmate. Like he's been every night." Katara remarked. She was right, of course. He'd been finding it impossible to sleep almost every night since he saw the other boy. Of course Katara had noticed, why hadn't he realized sooner. That would be why she was so worried about him.  
"You met your soulmate already! That's great!" Aang exclaimed, excitement rolling off of him. Most people didn't meet their soulmates until adulthood, usually not until their thirties or forties. But that wasn't an excuse for the kid to be practicality vibrating after they had been awake for 22 hours.  
"Not when your soulmate is as deadset on killing you as Ponytail is." Sokka sighed. "Scar Guy?" Aang asked. "Yeah, him. And could you guys please not call him that? I had to feel that, you know." Sokka attested gesturing at his left eye, although there was nothing left to show the pain. He wasn't branded like his soulmate was, but could still feel it sometimes, although never as strongly as he had that day, the burning hand cupped around the eye, almost gently if it wasn't for the whitehot flame it produced. "How did you feel his pain? Is that a thing now?" questioned Aang. Sokka was sick of getting asked the same question whenever his knight in shining turtleduck-neck armor and baggy pants got himself hurt badly enough that it showed on Sokka. He was sick of the pitying looks and the side glances from everyone in his tribe every time he winced. He didn't want to have to watch another person he cared about, least of all Aang, never look at him the same way again. And yet Katara still started explaining.  
"As far as we know, it only happens to my idiot brother and our stalker. On his ninth birthday he got a canoe and went out on it, but the tide was really strong and it pulled him to the southern gate. Outside the gate there was a golden-" "Have some flair, Katara!" He bickered. "Don't like how I'm telling it? You tell him." She retorted.  
"Fine! The southern gate was deep within a cavern, only accessable from the water. The ice was so thick that no natural light could get through it, despite the fact that it was midday. The only light was a beam of sun hitting the gate. It shone so bright that the icey walls of the cavern shimmered like moonstone. When I got out of the canoe, the open path froze solid. The gate was beautiful, the ice giving way to flowers and grass. It was the first time I ever saw grass, so I approached. Suddenly the light got much brigher, almost blinding me. A dragon was formed out of that light. It was as bright and golden as the sun and radiated warmth. It bowed its head at me and I knew it wanted me to walk into the center, under the gate without it saying a word. When I did, it circled me in a constant rhythm."  
"Is that how..?" Aang gestured vaguely at Sokka's legs. "Wait until I finish the story, Aang! And no, that's not why. Anyway, while the dragon was doing that, I started feeling something strange in my chest. It felt like a drum, pounding against my heart. Then I realized it was a heartbeat. I could feel his air enter my lungs, his eyes blink, and his hands, touching his face. I reciprocated the touch and he flinched. The dragon smiled at me and told me that he needed someone who will always love him and be there for him. That made it pretty obvious that who ever had the heart that was pounding in my chest was my soulmate. It also helped that I didn't get any other bond when I turned 13."  
Sokka didn't want to look at Aang and see his pity but he looked over anyway. But Aang hadn't stopped smiling throughout the entire story. "He can't be evil if you're his soulmate, Sokka! Plus he's not actually trying to kill us." declaired Aang.  
"What do you mean he's not trying to kill us?" puzzeled Sokka. Why would someone follow a group of people all over the world and attack them incessantly without trying to kill them? "Aang?" But Aang didn't seem to hear him, seeming like he was listening to someone else. Sokka strained to hear it. "And now, the story of the air walkers!" A distant voice declared. And just like that Aang was running to it.  
"Why do I get the feeling we're gonna be off course tomorrow?" Sokka said, rolling his eyes. That boy and his surprise plans. "Because he's impulsive and you have trouble saying no to him." Katara remarked. Sokka made a noise of agreement and walked back to the tent. Aang had kinda assuaged his fears and he could feel the days exhaustion sweep over him. His last thought before he passed out was of what Aang had said. "He can't be evil if he's your soulmate..." spirits, he sure hoped not.


	2. Snaping and cracking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still have no one to help with the editing so all mistakes are mine. Comment and or kudo if you enjoy or give me some writing tips  
> The end notes have important info so remember to read them too

Katara had been right. It only took foutteen words out of Aangs mouth for Sokka to let him hijack their trip for a few days and now they were closing in on the northern air temple. And Sokka had to say he was impressed. If the southern air temple had been beautiful (spoiler, it had) then this place had to have been hand crafted by the spirits. It was a stone castle perched atop the tallest mountain Sokka had ever seen, topped with gold and green roofs and smoke coming from chimneys. It had a large spire in the middle that probably had not only a gorgeous view but a strategic one, being able to see all aproaching forces. Sokka could almost see inside it now, no doubt holding priceless artifacts from a time forgotten. 

It would have looked good enough to eat if Sokka had gotten a taste for stone during his time in the earth kingdom. He hadn't, but the verdict was still out on King Bumi's rock eating habits. But Sokka was fine with it staying in one piece and out of Bumi's mouth, for the sake of future inhabitants if not for the King's teeth. 

Or maybe the current inhabitants, since swirling around the grey palace were airbenders, gliding like reindeer geese travelling north for the winter. But even better than that was the joy on Aang's face as he saw it. Sure, Sokka had thought him crazy for saying that there were "Airbenders! Alive at the northern temple an old guy told me! We need to go!" but he was happy for the kid. When Sokka's mom died, Dad and Katara were still there for him but when Aang woke up from that glacier, he was a hundred years late to the funerals of everyone he'd ever loved and the world thinking he'd been long dead. No one should have had to be as alone as Aang was, being the last of his kind.

But just as quickly as it arrived, the smile melted off of the avatar's face. "They're not real airbenders." Aang mumbled, rubbing his thumbs together. It has a habit he had picked up from the siblings who had learned it from their mother. "What do you mean? They're flying!" Katara asked, incredulously.

"They're gliding, it's not the same. They don't have spirit." sighed Aang as one of the gliders approached them, laughing. "He sure looks like he has spirit!" Katara yelled, lightly pushing the boy in a 'go get em' manner, but Sokka didn't pay much attention. He wanted to take a look at that chair glider, take it apart and put it back together just to get a look at every spring, support, and nail in it. And the guy on it wasn't too bad either. 

He looked about Katara's age with scruffy brown hair and well toned arms. Before he had met Ponytail, Sokka had looked at every man, woman, and person as his soulmate, checking them for scars he knew his soulmate would have. They obviously didn't have any of the scars and Sokka would always be heartbroken for a week until he found the next person to fawn over. But when he checked this guy, almost out of instinct, he saw something that did connect them. He had a leg problem. The glider chair was a wheelchair and his legs were wrapped in bandages. Sokka had a leg condition too. 

The lack there of. His legs ended just below the knees on both sides.

It was honestly sort of exhilarating to meet someone else who had similar struggles to Sokka's. Not only to meet someone who had the same problems and inconveniences that he had, but to meet someone who was functional. Glider guy (or Guyder as Sokka had mentally christened him) was living life like there were no problems in his life. He was fucking flying for spirits sake! He would never admit it but guyder's presence reminded him that he didn't need two legs to live his life to the fullest. 

Aang got his glider out and jumped off of the flying bison to go show guyder up. Sokka was still riding the high of the whole place. It was beautiful, technologically advanced, and someone like him lived there. "Katara look!" He exclaimed, wildly gesturing towards the things that caught his eye. He probably looked like a grasshopper salmon jumping out of water. "It is cool Sokka, but right now we need to meet the ground before it's introduced to us." remarked Katara. Sokka looked around and noticed the swarm of gliders surrounding Appa as he started decending, giving the mammal some trouble seeing. They did make it to the ground in one peace and the moment they touched the brick layed ground Aang joined them.

Soon, the teen that Aang had been gliding with (with, against?) landed too. "You're a real airbender? You must be the Avatar!" Oh yeah, just say that a little louder. Then maybe Zhao and ponytail would hear. "I'm Aang, this is Katara, and he's Sokka." Aang introduced them all swiftly. "I'm Teo and it's amazing to meet you! I've heard so many stories!" grinned the kid who Sokka could now call Teo instead of guyder. "Nice glider chair." Sokka mentioned, looking the device over again, pondering which wood it was made from. "Thanks! My dad made it. Actually, he's the real mastermind behind this place. Come on, I'll give you three the tour!"

The water tribe boy smiled at Teo. "I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions for him then." He said, but Sokka didn't know what Teo meant by calling his father the mastermind behind the temple. The people behind the temple were the monks who built it. Painstakingly, probably. It would have taken a huge team of earthbenders to build this place, but Sokka had noticed the flaws in the building. Bending always looked so perfect, so... precise, but in a bad way. (The word he was looking for was robotic, but he was a few centuries before that word would have any definition)

Sokka realized he'd been walking blind, not paying any attention to what was going on around him when he felt a punch to the gut. It wasn't a punch to his gut but it got him to pay more attention. He found himself in a new room filled with metal piping. The pipes shot hot air around the room, working pulley systems and cogs. But Sokka found the elevation platform the coolest. It was a small metal cage made out of a light metal, like aluminum, with a parachute on top. "Woah... that's so cool!" breathed Sokka. It was the most technologically advanced thing he'd ever seen, let alone without bending. It suited the temple. It was build without bending and now people were making airpowered devices without needing to bend. It was the future of the temple. Of the world, probably. But according to Aang's and Katara's faces, they didn't agree. "This is supposed to be the history of my people." murmured the young avatar, looking at Katara for support. Sokka walked up to Teo. "Do you know of any parts of the temple not yet... expanded upon?" He asked. Teo nodded.  
\---

One nasty thing about real bricks were real holes. It wasn't a big one, about the size of one of the hermit crabs that had made its home in the temple but when you get your pegleg stuck in it there's a definite problem. He pulled on the leg, trying not to lose balace since the other one was just as shotty. But he slipped, his body falling while his peg stayed in its place. "Damn it." Sokka grumbled, trying to pull the poor man's prosthetic leg out of the rocks, like a myth he had once read about a sword in a stone. But he was much less a King Arthur than he was a peasant trying to loose the blade. "Hey, Katara? I'm kinda, sorta, stuck. Would you mind?" requested Sokka. He felt pathetic, having fallen and been unable get up without help. "How did you get yourself stuck?!" scolded Katara before she turned to face him. "Oh" and with that she went over to help. 

Teo looked at him too. "You don't have a leg?" He asked, excitedly. Sokka knew that the elation wasn't about the fact he was crippled, but the fact they both were. It was more of a 'finally! Someone understands!' kind of joy. He'd felt the same way just earlier. Sokka pulled up his other long pant leg to show the missing leg that hid under it as well. "Actually, it was a two for one deal." joked Sokka, looking down at the tree branch he'd attached to his leg. They couldn't afford two prosthetics, so he'd tried to make one himself. He shot a goofy smile at Teo, trying not to wonder what ponytail thought of his fall while Katara pulled at the leg. "It's not budging." told Katara. She gave one final tug and   
CRACK  
The leg had snapped in two. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two things:  
> Next chapter will be mostly a flashback of the events of the boy in the iceberg/the pilot. The next chapter will not be canon compliant.  
> And last chapter I forgot to mention that since the events of the boy in the iceberg/ the pilot episode are different in my story they have no way of knowjng Zuko's name.


	3. Author's note

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please be forgiving

This is just an author's note that chapter three will take longer to come out than intended. I'd already been having struggles with writing the next chapter and I got hit by a car today, so that may take longer than intended. I am still highly invested in finishing this story but it'll just take a little longer.

Sorry for the delay, Do_wa_diddy. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry.


	4. The Old Man And The Legs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We finally learn how Sokka lost his legs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first of a few flashback chapters because I didn't know what I was talking about in ths notes for chapter 2. The next few chapters will have more info about everything than just this, don't worry.

"Well I lost my fingers to the fire nation, although you can't tell. A soldier cut them off, can you believe that? After all of that 'fire is the best element' jargin they just got out a knife and cut them off!" The mechanist drolled. Sokka continued tinkering with the new leg mechanic him and the old man designed, ignoring his ramblings. He was a genius that Sokka respected him with every bone in his body, bui mb he was still an old man with a short attention span and only about five stories in his catalogue, all of which Sokka had heard three times in the past two hours they've been working and they still weren't even done with one leg yet. 

Still, not everyone could be as funny and smart as Sokka. "But you've indulged this old man's storytelling for long enough and I'm sure you have plenty, having traveled with the avatar." He finally decided. Sokka jumped on the opportunity. (metaphorically, what with his legs being missing and all)

He didn't get many chances to tell his stories, due to the fact that he spent almost all of his time with people who were there for all of the events and would call him out for his exaggerations. Mostly Katara, but Aang would repent after every lie and ended up saying all of the things Sokka would rather have left unsaid. The two of them made a powerful team even without the waterbending. Sokka decided that of course the scariest person in the universe and the avatar would always make a good team.

"Yes, I know of the Kyoshi Warriors. But I don't want to hear their stories, I want to hear your story. How did you lose your legs?" The old man asked and Sokka had to repress the urge to hit him. Did this guy have no tact? He could tell Sokka his life story, sure, but that didn't mean Sokka had to tell him his! But, he did feel guilty about yelling at the man who was helping him this much. So, he told the old man what he wanted to hear. 

"On the day we met Aang, Katara and I went on a fishing trip. She was doing some of her freak bending, you know?" Sokka said "Not that I think it's freaky now, but you can't tell her that. And she got me soaked with a ball of water she caught a fish in. So I got smacked with a fish too! We obviously started fighting after that. As we fought, our boat drifted into dangerous waters. I didn't realize, but drifting ice starting crushing the boat. Katara got out, but my legs got crushed."

It's not like the mechanist deserved to hear what really happened. Aang didn't even know, and Sokka trusted Aang with his life. Hell, Aang's life was affected by Sokka's lack of legs. 

"Why is it surrounded by burn scars?" The old man asked, frowning. Sokka knew the fake story hadn't convinced him. This really wasn't his story at all. He didn't just get to know the depths of Sokka's life. "That's when Aang came out of the glacier. Katara got so upset that she shattered it." Sokka fabricated. "He saw me from the Avatar State and cauterized the wound. A little too hard, if you catch my drift. Please don't tell him that, though, it'd break his heart to know what he did." The mechanist nodded, believing the lie. Sokka tried to change the subject by bringing up Jet.

Jet had tried to convince Sokka they were soulmates, since at first glace he couldn't see any soulmark, name, or red string. Sokka immediately knew otherwise, but he'd still checked the man for scars, hoping against hope that the fire nation boy who'd come to his village wasn't his soulmate. He woke up one day in his underwear with Jet holding the missing clothes and some paint. After Katara had frozen him to a tree, he finally confessed he was trying to copy Sokka's soul mark. 

He told the mechanist the funny story of waking up semi nude to the stranger holding his clothing and lying that he'd just wanted to check his soulmate out, as disgusting as that excuse was. The mechanist cut my story off. "You know who your soulmate is? How'd you meet her?" It was like this elderly man was playing 'piss off Sokka' bingo. 

"Listen, I know you're fixing me some legs and all, but that doesn't make us friends. You're a genius, sure, but that doesn't mean you get Sokka's life story, okay?" He shouted at the man. The mechanist didn't reply for once and Sokka appreciated the silence. 

\---

"So what do you usually design? Don't tell me your genius is wasted on just upgrading the temple." Sokka asked. The other man visibly paled and snapped his neck over to the "Oh dear, it's already 8 o'Candle? You should get to sleep. I'll help you put the new legs on and we'll finish them in the morning, okay?" They installed the legs and the elderly man guided (pushed) Sokka out of the room. Well that was suspicious, thought Sokka. He was clearly avoiding Sokka's question and any function in his legs besides walking would be impossible without the springs in the ankle, and of course the old man knew that, after all he'd designed them.   
\---  
It wasn't hard for Sokka to sneak back into the room. The old man had gone to bed hours ago and the hall had been empty. Plus, the room wasn't locked. He brought a candle and headed to the bookshelf. He wanted to check the blueprints and see what this man actually made. So he tried to pull a book out of the bookshelf and... the bookshelf pulled out with it?

There was a small room behind the book case filled with blueprints, manuals, and prototypes. Sokka looked at the prototypes. They seemed familiar to him but he couldn't place it. Until he saw the fire emblem logo on them. It was all fire nation tech. No, he could have stolen them. Sokka needed real proof before he came to any conclusions. He read every manual, checked every blueprint, looked at every single piece of technology. Hours passed and Sokka felt the energy drain out of his body. There was no definitive proof that the mechanist had made any of this. The only thing having to do with him was an old family painting.

The mechanist was holding onto an infant, Teo, he deduced, and leaning against a woman that Sokka could tell was Teo's mother almost instantly. The passion captured in her eyes, the dimples. And the star on her nose. The mechanist had one too, in the painting. Of course he didn't have it in real life. The same thing happened to his dad when mom died, and Bato when his husband was killed in the same raid. He'd watched it happen to his dad, the pure pain he was in when it happened. He hoped Katara would never have to experience that. 

Katara was going to be pissed at him for doing something so recklessly dangerous.

He could hear her yelling at him now, telling him that his idea was reckless, that all of them have been. She used to go along with his ideas until that day. All of his ideas were about how to make her feel better and how to protect her properly. He'd always known he wasn't a good fighter, after all. The only reason he came on this mission is because he's the only one his soulmate wouldn't hurt, but he could hurt him. He couldn't tell Katara that the scars covering him weren't from his soulmate's soldiers, or that the soldiers had never laid a finger on him. His soulmate did one good thing, he supposed. But he still had to keep the man away from Aang somehow and he was basically useless so if he had to hurt himself to protect the people he cared about he'd do it in a heartbeat. 

Trying to protect the people he cared about was how he'd lost his legs, after all.

\---

_There were plenty of problems with leaving your kids to go fight in the war, and the fact that those kids didn't have self preservation instincts was definitely one of them. The only self control they had was eachother after their father left and Sokka was informed that he was in charge of protecting the entire village._

_Sokka didn't know anything about the fire nation besides the fact that they killed his mother, branded his soulmate, made his father leave, and that he hated them. But if he wanted to protect the tribe then he had to know his enemy. And he was lucky enough that the enemy left a ship nearby that he could rummage through and learn from. Study their weapons, armor, any writings they'd left behind. Anything to take them down. He didn't tell Katara he was going. She'd expressed wanting to go many times but Sokka didn't want to risk her getting hurt. She was too important._

_So early dawn one morning, before the sun broke above the miles of endless sea and caribou chickens started crowing to greet the new day and woke Katara he grabbed his katana and boomerang and headed out the door. The ship was a few miles away, about an hour walk away from the village center. It wasn't a hard trip but it took experience traveling over frozen treacherous tundra._

_It would have been impossible for Sokka to get up to the deck if he was a worse climber, but to him it was an easy climb. The metal hull of the ship had been eroding for years and had definite footholds so he could scale it easily. Once he pulled himself onto deck he gazed back on the the field of snow and ice, breathing a sigh he didn't know he had. It'd been the first time he was truly alone in years. Sure, he had his room to himself but there was always someone on the other side of the wall. He went hunting alone but his trips were few and far between. He wouldn't admit it but the women of the village were much better hunters than he could ever aspire to be._

_For a breif and guilty moment, Sokka entertained never going back to the tribe. But as much as living like an orphan was exhausting, he couldn't do that to Katara. He pushed the thought away and pressed against the old metal door when it would not budge. The main door was was rusted and frozen shut, almost as if the spirits themselves were telling Sokka that his plan was a bad one._

_Despite the warning signs, Sokka continued to force the door, and it suddenly gave in, forcing him to stumble through the entry and fall face first. Suddenly, there was a shreik of metal scraping metal from above, just past the doorway. And Sokka saw the glint of the broad guillotine blade falling._

_Sokka knew that his legs had been cut off when he came to. It was just another item in the list of facts he knew. The sky is blue, the moon is beautiful, and Sokka's legs had just been cut off. It wasn't a revelation, he didn't even have to think about it. It was just true. He looked at the blade that had ripped his legs from him, trying to take in the damage. It was red hot, and if he really focused he could feel the blisters at the end of what he had left for legs. But most of his from his feet. The nerves crying out from being severed. It was like he still had his missing pieces, the pain highlighting his lower legs and stopping at the end of the skin and the bottom of the feet he didn't have. Still, Sokka's first coherent thought was "that hurt a lot less than it should have." Unfortunately for him, the worst was yet to come._

\---

Sokka woke up on the floor, although he didn't remember falling asleep. He looked around for a moment, trying to remember why he was indoors after having been sleeping outside since he'd been with Aang. Sokka wondered what time it was, but he couldn't see the sun from the hidden roo. However the room was bright enough that it had to be a few hours after dawn. He'd slept too long, and the harsh thrum of pain from his legs told him that he should have had his healing session with Katara already. He didn't know where he would be without his sister. 

Well actually, he would probably be dead, no one ever finding the body he would have left behind in that war ship. He pushed the macabre thought to the side and stretched, trying to loose his tense muscles from sleeping on the cold stone floor of the air temple. Instead, he managed to hit the family portrait that decorated the bland walls. Much to Sokka's horor, the painting started moving. He assumed it was falling and imagined it crashing to the ground with the mechanist in the room, the old man coming to investigate and finding Sokka and... he didn't know from there. Would the man kill him? Lecture him? Give him the dad look that Bato and his father had perfected thanks to his and Katara's bad ideas? 

He heard the noise of wood slamming on the ground and looked down at the painting. But it wasn't there. It hadn't fallen down, it had moved up! There was a contraption connecting it to the... that wasn't a wall. Well, the wall was there, but there was an indent. A missing brick in the wall behind a portrait. Was it just Sokka or was that suspicious? He looked into the small crevice and found nothing but an old, worn, leatherbound book that Sokka immediately opened. 

The book had receipts of trade with the Fire Nation. He sold them weapons and technology and in return he got... it wasn't clear what he got. But Sokka decided enough was enough. He'd tell Aang, Katara, Haru, anyone who could stop him. If he was behind the technology of the fire nation, he needed to be stopped immediately. On that logic Sokka forgot a very important detail, as he pulled himself over the bookshelf. He'd heard a noise. 

Once he got back on the ground, the source of the noise looked him dead in the face. A fire nation soldier. He wore enough badges and medals that Sokka knew he wasn't some new recruit. "Oh... um... I'm gonna go..." Sokka stuttered and sprinted out the door, before crashing to the ground just outside. Oh monkey feathers, the springs! "Aang! Katara!" His shouts could be heard down the hall. The soldier's eyes lit up when he heard the names. "Zhao's going to want to hear about this. Get back to me about that flying ship again in a few weeks." The mechanist was shocked. "Why... why make an exception now?" The soldier chuckled. "You think you're more important than the avatar, old man?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. It's the longest chapter I've written so far and there was the whole getting hit by a car thing. I (still) don't have anyone to check my writing for errors so any mistakes are mine.
> 
> My writing is powered by pasta, kudos, and comments. If you want to help power this engine than please leave a comments or at least a kudo. It's the best way to show your appreciation and it gets the dopamine running. 
> 
> Thanks for reading & gay rights y'all.


	5. Icarus Is Falling, Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Icarus didn't know that it was his hubris that sent him crashing to the ground. Or that he only knows half the story. Fortunately, there are others who can tell us where he cannot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be a two part but life has been hectic recently and I felt like I needed to put something out there. For the same reason this will probably be lower quality than my other chapters but I will be putting much more effort into writing this story now. I just have to get all of the boring stuff out of the way and I still have yet to get my footing.

"Where's Sokka with the war balloon?" Katara asked, looking around. Her and Aang were outnumbered one to a hundred at keast. For each vehicle she took out she had to take out added three human flamethrowers badly wanting to watch her bleed, no doubt. The two of them couldn't handle the metal-clad maniacs alone much longer. Katara glanced at the sky for help, a bomb or anything and finally saw what she had been waiting for. The red balloon had taken flight, soaring overhead displaying the dark emblem of the fire nation. 

She felt a brief panic as she saw the flying vehicle and she even knew to expect it. She could imagine the fire raining down from this new, higher position, killing thousands from above if this technology had ended up in Fire Nation hands. If the fire nation had this technology they'd be able to level the planet in months. Katara hoped it would never end up being used by the terrible benders. 

She had to hand it to Sokka, it really was a sight to see though. Just because it was capable of being used for cruelty didn't mean it had to be. It was called a war balloon though, and it would be able to do terrible things if someone had the intent to use it that way. She was glad ot was on her side. Monkey feathers, she was glad Sokka was on her side. She'd never tell him this but he truly was a great strategist and inventor. If the fire nation knew what he could do they'd be after him too. 

"Aang, lets go!" She shouted, grabbing onto the tween. He quickly airbent the two out of the way of the attack Sokka and the old man were about to unleash. Now that she wasn't under fire herself, she worried about Sokka. It wasn't the first time and it definitely wouldn't be the last. He had the worst track record she could ever imagine when it came to taking care of himself. He would regularly forget to eat, instead spending all day in his tower trying to watch for their father to return, or catch the fire nation finally come for her. He always had said it was inevitable that they would find her. And that he had to be ready. 

She watched her older brother drop bomb after bomb and destroy the fire nation army. She knew he was happy to do it, too. The siblings hated the fire nation since they killed their mom. Even more so after what happened with Scar boy's eye. 

The sympathy she'd felt for Scar Boy all those years ago had long since faded, though. Who would willingly hurt their own soulmate? And to the extent Sokka's scars implied... Katara would be upset about it even if Sokka was a stranger. And since it was Sokka it was even more terrible. Her brother had been through enough as it was, and he deserved a good soulmate who loved him, not that pyromaniac who wanted them all dead. 

The war balloon flew triumphantly over the battlefield, taking out hoards of soldiers, one after the other. And then suddenly it wasn't. Before Katara's very eyes, a life changing scene unfolded. She watched a soldier from one of the back rows of soldiers looks up and sees the ship flying what was their flag and attacking their allies and grabbed another soldier, another fire bender. They clasped together and took aim and suddenly Katara saw a bright streak of light like a cannonball of heat searing the sky. 

Maybe they'd be war heroes for it, saving so many soldiers. Maybe they would get medals, or a promotion. Or maybe their lives wouldn't change at all. Maybe they didn't even realize what they were doing. But that doesn't change the fact that they set Sokka's balloon on fire, in an instant taking away the only thing Katara had left to lose, the only family that had stayed at her side since the second she was born.

She watched her life unravel as Sokka's war balloon spiraled out of control and down below the clouds. When she could no longer see him, it was as if the sun itself had stopped shining as her vision went dark. Out of grief or injury from the fight she didn't know as she fell face forward. The memory of golden eyes seared her mind. Golden eyes that saved her brother's life and changed him in turn. 

\---

"Sokka!" She shouted for the thousandth time. She was worried about him, although he was probably fine. But still, waking up during a storm with her brother gone was terrifying experience. If he had to go out at dawn for whatever reason then that was his buisness, but he could have at least left her a note. But he hadn't, so here she was, out at sea in a snowstorm. It was absolutely horrible. The snow was in her eyes and the wind kept blowing her hair around and slappinhlg her in the face with her 'hair loopies' as Sokka called them. Her canoe was being pushed around, and no amount of paddling or waterbending would stop the intense current. It was, to put it simply, a bad day to be out. 

But Sokka was out there, and if he had gotten hurt... well, she didn't want to imagine what she would do, so she had to find him and ruin his day for ruining hers. It was only fair, after all isn't that what sisters were supposed to do? 

The ice around her kept shifting and creaking, moving like snowflakes in a gentile breeze, if the breeze was the lapping ocean being pushed by the storm winds of the century and the snowflakes were big enough to kill you. It was like she was going ice dodging, the sheer danger and chaos of it all, except without being able to steer or see more than a foot in front of her. So it wasn't a shock when she heard the boat start to crack. She spotted the problem easily. Her canoe was being crushed between two sheets of ice. She abandoned ship before she got crushed with it. Then she was just a fourteen year old standing alone, miles away from civilization in what must have been the worst blizzard of the season. 

She screamed. What else did she have left to do? She was trapped without escape, she was alone in a storm both metaphorically and literally and she would die out there. Where had Sokka gone? Had he left her for good? Gone up to the earth kingdom to join the fight against the fire nation without a word or a thought in her direction? Had he gone out looking for the man who killed his mother like he said he would all those years ago? Had she ever mattered to her brother at all or had it been a ruse the whole time? Was he trying to find their father, the man who abandoned and betrayed them and left them for dead? She hadn't even known she was crying until the tears were trying to freeze on her cheeks. 

Looking back, she realized what it must have looked like. A teenage girl crying her eyes out in a storm. That's what Aang must have seen when her sobs and anguish shattered the iceberg holding him in place for one hundred years. Her crying, all alone. 

"It'll be okay!" The exuberant boy shouted through the storm. Katara's eyes shot up, but she still couldn't see him. Maybe she had died of the cold, and was being brought to the spirit world. When she finally saw him she knew she was dead. A young airbender, tattoos and all, walked up to her. He had one hand outstretched to help her off the ground. She hadn't even noticed she was on the ground. "I'm Aang! I can help. What's wrong?" He asked. She took his hand and got up. "Well for starters, am I dead?"

"You're not dead! How would I have touched you if you were dead?" He asked, incredulously. "Wait, are you dead? Am I in the spirit world? This is so cool!" 

"You're not dead? You look like an airbender." Asked Katara. "I'm not dead, just lost. This storm is bad, huh? I went underwater for a bit there." Laughed the boy. "I'm Aang! And I am an airbender, you're right!" Katara looked at him in the freezing cold. He wasn't wearing any jacket or boots despite being in the south pole. Spirit or not, he was right about being lost. She told him what they needed to do if they wanted to survive. (If they even were alive) "We need to get out of this storm. I'd offer for you to come with me, but my canoe just got destroyed. Please tell me you have some miraculous way out of here?" If he could have survived long enough to get this far south then he must have had some way of getting there. The boy grinned at her. "I have Appa!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will try to get my next chapter out ASAP since it was supposed to be a part of this one, but my sister is moving out and life is only getting more confusing. Also, if you want an update on the whole getting hit by a car thing we now know that I do have a slipped disk in my spine, but I'm able to walk again which is wonderful. 
> 
> Please tell me if you enjoy this fic!!!! I am in constant need of validation and I get a little extra dopamine whenever I get a kudo! Also if you leave a comment I will combust in the best way possible.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A (very brief) explaination of what actually happened to Sokka the day he lost his legs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an absolutely atrocious chapter and it's way too short, but I needed to post something, you know? Yeah, I'm not abandoing the fic. These next few chapters are just the hardest to write, and school is back in session so writing is so much harder to get done

Katara stopped being mad when she saw the makeshift ramp of snow leading up to the deck of the abandoned warship. Sokka hadn't abandoned her, he'd just done something stupid. She could deal with stupid from Sokka since that seemed to be his default in dealing with life. For one of the smartest people she knew (although she would never admit to him being that) he could he a real idiot at times.

Appa, the adorable beast that she'd heard growling in the storm had led them to what Aang had called the eye of the storm, although no matter how many times he suggested, blizzards didn't have eyes. And if they did, they wouldn't stay in one place because that's not how storms work, Aang.

It was obvious that something was going on, to say the least. She told Aang something about 'family business' and marched onto the ship herself. She didn't have to go far to see a figure that was battling a spirit. She ran forward to help her brother only to see that the figure wasn't Sokka. It was, instead, a large man shooting fire from his hands. And if that wasn't bad enough, her brother was on the ground, unconscious. It didn't take long for her to put two and two together. She sprinted over to where Sokka lay practically lifeless on the floor so that she could try and take him out of the ship. Instead, a force stopped her from continuing. A voice echoing inside her mind told her not to continue.

** **Stop. It's not safe to interrupt a battle between the spirits. We shall speak when I am done.** ** the voice instructed. Katara stopped. She didn't know if she stopped herself of if whatever had just spoken to her had stopped her with whatever powers it had. She looked back down and her brother and noticed something horrible. His legs were gone. She didn't even know where what was left of them was. His legs now ended just below his knees. But there wasn't an open wound or any blood. The ends had been burned to stop the bleeding.

The only person who could have done that was the firebender, although she didn't know why a monster like that would try to help her water tribe brother. She watched the spirit and the bender battle, before the firebender wrapped a dancing line of golden flame around the spirit and it's dark, hellhound like exterior melted into a green spirit wolf. The creature howled, before running off, deeper into the ship.

Katara decided it was safe enough to grab her brother. She sprinted over and scooped him up while the firebender approached her. She hadn't noticed before since there had been a lot going on, but the man had a faint golden glow to him and was much darker than the other firebenders. She looked into his eyes and they were a brilliant gold as apposed to the normal fire nation yellow or brown. He looked back at her and despite herself she felt safe. "Nice to finally meet you, Katara. Don't worry, Sokka is going to be okay." He said to her in a soothing voice.

"Okay? His legs are gone! How is he going to be okay after this? How do I even know he's going to survive?! And why do you know our names?" She wanted to get up and demand answers from the strange man, but she'd be leaving Sokka vulnerable and she didn't want to take that risk. "I understand you are experiencing many feelings at the moment but I need you to take a breath. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Agni, the spirit of the sun." The man smiled, inadvertently showing off his dagger-sharp dragon teeth. That would explain the eyes, Katara supposed. And why he didn't attack.

"Why did you save him?" She asked. It was the only question she had that him being a powerful spirit didn't answer. He sighed and sat beside her. "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but you, your brother, and Avatar Aang along with a few others are vital to the future of the world. If your brother died now, the world would be thrown into chaos. I intervened, but not before that corrupted spirit could do lasting damage. He has my blessing now, although you cannot tell him."

She nodded. She was still confused, sure, but she didn't know what else to do, and the man didn't seem too apt to keep telling her his secrets. So she let it go, and picked her (much lighter than he should be) brother up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DON'T WORRY MY WRITING WON'T STAY THIS BAD I JUST NEEDED TO POST SOMETHING


	7. Author's Note

I have decided to discontinue this work. I'm still in school and I have a lot of freewriting projects for AP Language and so I spend all of my writing time working on those. I'm sorry to those of you who were invested in this story.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked the fic! Please be sure to leave some kudos and comments if you want to see more of this fic! If not then leave me alone! Also this fic does not have any editor so please comment if you see a mistake or something that can be fixed.
> 
> And also, you'll find out what's up witb Sokka's legs soon. I changed the story of how Aang was awakened because I didn't vibe with it for some reason so it's not in this fic anymore, although it won't be as flashback-y as some of the fic is going to be.


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